I think Johansson has screwed up her serve badly, she's barely getting any free points on that 1st serve anymore, her 2nd isn't any better to justify this switch. I don't understand why Piotr and her team don't address this.

Eh, her serve was fairly weak before Johansson, I don't think that you can blame him for her serve.

I do agree that it is nuts that her serve has, if anything, regressed over the last two years. She's fairly tall and she's pretty big, why can't she get more pop on her serve?

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She was a very steady, confident player who needed to improve her serve.
Now the question has changed to wondering if she is totally left behind by the YEC players.
Really does show how important it is to have a coach. Careers can be very fragile if the player has no one to trust, who knows what they're talking about

Eh, her serve was fairly weak before Johansson, I don't think that you can blame him for her serve.

Her 2nd serve did and does need job but her 1st serve was way better, just check highlights of her matches back then. Of course one can say, well she was more confident and that helped, but she has given this new serve close to a year and it has never really worked, a few good matches here and there but hardly regular. Time to change it, IMO.

I think Johansson has screwed up her serve badly, she's barely getting any free points on that 1st serve anymore, her 2nd isn't any better to justify this switch. I don't understand why Piotr and her team don't address this.

Have to agree! Her serve is less effective now, and she used to hit more aces with the old stance.

Have to agree! Her serve is less effective now, and she used to hit more aces with the old stance.

When Sharapova came back from shoulder surgery, she changed her motion. When her shoulder healed more, she changed back.
Whatever technique changes Caro tried, thats not a long term excuse.
There isnt an excuse. She had no adversity. She was healthy and just stopped getting results.
Its very much like Jankovic, except Caroline is doing it at an age when players usually are improving (like Vika & Aga did at 22)

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Did you like Caro's strategy/gameplan today? I'm not talking about how well she executed it but the overall idea/s.

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I quite liked it, the only thing I don't understand is why is she going to the net at key points. Net game is where she makes so many mistakes and/or gets outplayed by her opponent. Aga is great at the net so it was really too risky to try to outplay her at her strengths.

Oh. I thought as Ana was your second fave that you had seen it or at least knew about it.

I didn't see it but from what people have said Ana played poorly in the 1st set but played a lot better in the 2nd set. Ana served for the 2nd set at 6-5 but played a horrible game and got broken. Ana hit two double faults and an unforced error in that game.

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The Babylon project was our last best hope for peace. A self-contained world five miles long, located in neutral territory. A place of commerce and diplomacy for a quarter of a million humans and aliens. A shining beacon in space, all alone in the night. It was the dawn of the third age of mankind, the year the great war came upon us all. This is the story of the last of the Babylon stations. The year is 2259, the name of the place is Babylon 5. (John Sheridan: Babylon 5: Season 2: The Coming of Shadows)

Oh. I thought as Ana was your second fave that you had seen it or at least knew about it.

I didn't see it but from what people have said Ana played poorly in the 1st set but played a lot better in the 2nd set. Ana served for the 2nd set at 6-5 but played a horrible game and got broken. Ana hit two double faults and an unforced error in that game.

Unfortunately, when the match was on I wasn't able to watch it so I just looked at the comments in her subforum. Yes, she played terribly in the first set and gave away several games to Radwanska with errors. In the second set they say she found some composure but when it mattered....well, it was the usual scenario.

I hope Caro will not follow in the footsteps of Ana in the future. Ivanovic could have had a fantastic career was it not for her lack of patience and throwing away good chances.

Wrong. Starting from Mon' 2010, her serve was brilliant for about a year. Her strong period.

I would argue that her serve was never "brilliant." There was definitely a time when it was much less of a liability but she never had a fantastic serve.

Surely you would agree that the serve started going south before she started working with him? It is hardly true that she had a great and reliable serve and then she started working with him and he wrecked it. For example, long before Johansson it was common for her to lose her opening service game. I just think that it is revisionist to suggest that he is responsible for her poor serving.

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Well I don't think anyone is really giving him sole responsability, it's wasn't my intention. Fact is that he changed Caro's stance, he thought it was best to try something new to make her serve better. That's fine, I'm all for trying new things. However, it's obvious that this change hasn't worked as they had hoped, her serve is weaker than before, so if you try something and it doesn't work, you either switch back or try something else.